Various types of foot and leg prosthetic devices are well known in the art. Such devices frequently include some form of attachment for coupling the device to the distal end of the residual limb of an amputee and for extending to the ground to provide body support. One form of prosthesis is fabricated as an assembly having a flexible roll-on suction suspension liner, a socket, a shuttle lock, a lower leg component and a foot. The shuttle lock provides rigid attachment of the suspension liner to the socket and lower leg component while providing an easy way of enabling the amputee to release a prosthesis or other lower leg component from the amputee's residual limb. Other types of adaptors, such as a double head adaptor or a pyramid adaptor, are used to accommodate various situations such as when distance, or the length of the residual limb, is a problem.
Some currently available shuttle lock components utilized in below-knee prosthesis designs consist of a ratchet style or clutch style cylindrical body portion having a hole for receipt of the clutch pin, which is typically connected to the suspension liner. The body includes a clutch mechanism to disengage a gear located within the cylindrical body from the clutch pin. A problem with existing types of shuttle lock designs is that the cylindrical body must become integral and permanently molded to the prosthetic socket during fabrication. If the cylindrical body is improperly positioned during fabrication, the pin may not align easily and consistently with the shuttle lock latching mechanism. The only alternative is either to refabricate the socket, which can be time consuming and generate additional costs, or try to train the patient to overcome the difficulty he faces in donning the prosthesis. An example of an existing shuttle lock is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,234, issued Mar. 30, 1999 to Littig, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Consequently, there exists a need for a new and improved prosthetic adaptor for a prosthesis that can be positioned and repositioned at any time on the distal socket to provide on-axis alignment of the adaptor and hence, the prosthetic device, to alleviate patient frustration and eliminate rejection of an improperly aligned socket.